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PocketGamer.biz30 Jun 2015

Biz Daily: Fallout Shelter's slow top grossing decline

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
While the game briefly displaced established titles like Candy Crush Saga in the US, its long-term performance suggests that its resource-management mechanics are better suited to the mobile form factor than traditional high-intensity gameplay.
02
Fallout Shelter’s launch performance defied mobile trends by maintaining a resilient top-30 grossing position across major Western markets, including the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and Russia, following its E3 debut.
03
The title’s performance highlights a significant geographic divide, as it struggled to gain traction in Asian markets, with minimal impact in China and Japan and only reaching the top 100 in South Korea.
04
The game’s success demonstrates that strong brand equity can compensate for the absence of standard free-to-play retention drivers, such as multiplayer, social integration, and frequent content updates.
05
Bethesda successfully leveraged the Fallout brand to attract core console and PC gamers who typically avoid mobile free-to-play titles, establishing a level of consumer trust that drove initial monetization.

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Transcript

hello and welcome to the best daily so today we're talking about what else fallout shelter so full now shelter has been out for about two weeks now it's announced during the e3 press conference and immediately available and I'm on the app store only on the App Store massive push from Apple and since then it's kind of been going from strength to strength certainly in terms of its downloads in the first week and then kind of tracking that back in that a little bit in terms of its top roasting ability so all the headlines last week were fallout shelter and Knox candy crush saga off the off the number three spot in the United States App Store as with all of these kind of headline stories it was true for about a day maybe two days so what we'd be looking at today is in our charcoal which is a like an article Lynch is a chart so we look at the top roasting performance of various games around the

world and this we've been looking at for our shelter about two weeks is a sufficient time to get it again an idea of how the Hays performing and kind of what what changes were seeing so perhaps it's unsurprising very few games have have been announced in such a kind of surprising man and no one renew was coming and immediately everyone was on the App Store's downloading it so we saw the up loose all the downloads and then we saw the kind of top grossing nature and it was aside from nothing so for the first couple of days it was increasing everywhere I guess what was Inc was interesting as we can imagine that fallout shelter did best and still he's doing best in those markets where fallout as a brand a PC and a console game has done the best so typically that these have been the english-speaking market so when it comes to app stores that's the u.s. to the UK Australia and Canada in the big markets and it's in all those territories it's done very well it's gone top ten tips on last week

we've seen it you know it has in decline is in decline now so most of these characters it's now on top 20 or in Australia's top 30 on iPhone I'm seeing a slight decline if we look at some other big markets so non English market english-speaking market so typically with these on to look at France and Germany and also this time of to Russia so in all those countries again perform very well not quite as well as in in the UK and there's a new speaking Turkish but still in France in Germany and in Russia who knows even though Russia is still a top 30 grossing game so they kind of the the initial kind of excitement as for off a little bit in the past week but yeah every anyone will be happy with the game in the in the top 30 grossing charts on iPhone in these countries when it comes the IPAs is not done is to pretty much done the same on iPad but it's just because of the type of gaming is very much a drop in level up some stuff up them kind of a kind of sexual resources and come back in it's not game where

you're playing long time period so it's not really an iPad game so we've seen so bit performers on iphone i guess what we have seen i guess was potentially has been also interesting is how the game is done in asia so Asia is now thibodaux you talk to me either as big as the West or or bigger than the West in terms of revenue so the big three tariffs is there are China South Korea and Japan now Korea is the most Western of those markets and what I felt a I'm surprised he's done the best in Korea he's kind of gotten roughly top 100 but it's just that's on the top 100 now it's done the best then the problem Bethesda is that Korea is pretty much a majority or vast majority go Berg Google Play market obviously for our coach was not out for Android yet we've seen we will be at some point it's very hard to kind of get to see how well it's done in career just because iPhone isn't news and isn't such a big mark over there in China I find is very big we can't it's not done quite so well so it kind of

skirted the top 100 and Elvis in the top 200 a and Japan is the weirdest market all those three not within the memory is wrong with this is the it's the most localized market and the most own cover difficult for Western games to get into it is not done very well at all I think broadly looking at how foolish was done in the two weeks what's really surprising is that it's not dropping not the most means probably hasn't isn't that he's dropped off that says everyone was expecting that what's been surprising as it dropped off fast slower than people were expecting the reasons for that are it's a single-player game so there's very little no interaction at all there's no multiplayer mode you can't look how people shelters you can't there's no interaction there not even any morality there's no there's no Twitter no there's no Facebook interaction and so even in the example of flappy birds which we could kind of see as it as a perhaps as an example or a similar game how he exploded on the scene but in fact word you could tweet out your score I mean there's nothing like I mean form actually also go into a release and then things has not been

updated it's very unclear if the content will be updated and the people who are playing this and paying a lot of money in it they're gonna write up content eventually no or failure sue Murray so in a way you kind of thought up shots of successes kind of goes against all the kind of design conditions that people should be designing they're free to play games for hope so again now that's this is probably to be a success but I think the argument is and I think that's been proven out particularly I how slow the decline is happening is it's just a brand that all that is so strong that's attracting people and probably maybe two degree people who a big fault our fans have probably not been playing since it all free-to-play games on mobile so this is like maybe their first kind of these proper deep experience of free-to-play games and so they've been happier to come spend necklace a brand that they know and love rather than they kind of feel out it's not just one of those rubbish mobile games this is like proper format and they had trust Bethesda so it's still fascinating us or I probably will do so for the for the month the gun

was that we tracking it but no that's the news today

Summary

Fallout Shelter’s performance on the App Store during its initial two-week launch period demonstrates a unique trajectory characterized by a surprisingly gradual decline in top-grossing rankings. Following a surprise announcement at E3, the game experienced an immediate surge in downloads and revenue, briefly displacing established titles like Candy Crush Saga in the United States. While the game has since trended downward, it has maintained a resilient presence, generally remaining within the top 30 grossing charts across major English-speaking markets, including the UK, Australia, and Canada, as well as in France, Germany, and Russia.

The game’s success correlates strongly with the existing strength of the Fallout brand, particularly in Western territories. Performance on iPad has mirrored iPhone results, though the title’s mechanics—centered on short, resource-management sessions—are better suited to the mobile form factor. In contrast, the game has struggled to gain significant traction in Asian markets. While it reached the top 100 in South Korea, its impact in China and Japan has been minimal, reflecting the inherent difficulties Western titles face in those highly localized regions and the dominance of the Google Play ecosystem in Korea.

The longevity of Fallout Shelter is notable given its design, which lacks traditional free-to-play retention drivers such as multiplayer interaction, social media integration, or frequent content updates. The game’s ability to sustain revenue despite these omissions suggests that the strength of the Bethesda brand acts as a primary catalyst. The title successfully attracted a demographic of core console and PC gamers who may have previously avoided mobile free-to-play experiences, fostering a sense of trust that encouraged initial monetization. Ultimately, the game’s performance challenges conventional mobile design wisdom, proving that brand equity can effectively compensate for a lack of standard social and competitive features.